Störtebeker Festival

The Störtebeker Festival (German: Störtebeker-Festspiele) is an yearly open-air theatre festival in Germany. It is based on stories around the medieval German privateer Klaus Störtebeker and his Victual Brothers, who later turned to pirates.

Stage of the Störtebeker Festival
2002 Störtebeker Festival

Founded in 1959 as part of an East German cultural initiative, the festival has become Germany's most successful open-air theatre event, and is broadcast by public television network NDR. It is held in the small town of Ralswiek on the isle of Rügen.

Background

In 1959, the "Rügenfestspiele" were founded in Ralswiek as part of a cultural commission of the GDR and the Ralswiek natural stage was created. The place for the then Rügen Festival was found in the spring of 1959 between Ralswiek Castle and the Boddenufer, and the natural stage was then built in five months of construction and the village was converted into a festival venue.

From 1959 to 1961 and 1980 to 1981 the Dramatic Ballad "Klaus Störtebeker" by Kurt Barthel was performed under the direction of Hanns Anselm Perten and the choral direction of Günther Wolf with about 1,000 participants. A total of 670,000 visitors were counted during these five summers.

Production since 1993

Content

In contrast to the piece of the time, the legend of the pirate Klaus Störtebeker, who sailed the Baltic Sea with his Vitalien brothers at the end of the 14th century, is told at the Störtebeker Festival since 1993, each spread over a period of four to six years. In 2006 the production was called In Henker's Hand, in which Klaus Störtebeker was beheaded. The fourth cycle is planned for the period 2007-2012; the first episode in the summer of 2007 was titled Betrayed and Sold. In 2009, a trilogy began about the treasure of Störtebeker. The cycle was completed by the piece Störtebeker's Death. In 2013 we started from scratch with the beginning of a legend. Sascha Gluth, who took over the role of Klaus Störtebeker from 2002 to 2012, was replaced by Bastian Semm. The role of Goedeke Michels was taken over by Andreas Euler. Both played their leading roles for a cycle long (2013-2017).

Number of Visitors

On August 17, 2007, the 912th performance since 1993 counted the four millionth visitor.

On September 1, 2008, the 2005 season record was broken. On this day, the 367,000th visitor was counted, six performances before the end of the season. However, this record was broken again in 2009, with a total of 394,766 spectators attending the most successful open-air theatre in Germany this year.

On July 19, 2010, the 1091st performance since 1993 counted the five millionth visitor to Ralswiek. This results in an average of 4600 visitors per performance with a capacity of 8802 seats.

With the end of the 2016 season, the festival will attract more than 7.3 million visitors in 24 years and more than 1500 performances.

Contributors
Bald eagle in the preliminary program "The King of the Skies"

The Störtebeker Festival employs more than 140 extras, 20 actors, 30 horses, four ships with skippers, and other behind-the-scenes staff. The casting of the extras takes place at the beginning of March of the respective year.

Actors with the Most Contributions
Störtebeker actors
Actor Ideas Period
Norbert Braun 540 bets 1993 to 2001
Sascha Gluth 719 2002–2012
Bastian Semm 335 2013–2017
Performers who were most frequently on stage
Actor Ideas Period
Norbert Braun 1391 1993-2001, since 2007
Dietmar Lahaine 1332 1993–2018
Hans-Jörg Fichtner 1259 1993–2012
Wolfgang Lippert 1249 2000-2001, since 2003
Mike Hermann Rader 1127 since 2003
Burhard Kurth 991 1993–2008
Mircea Crișan 796 1993–2006
Fred Braeutigam 790 1993–2005
Charles Lemming 737 2005–2019
Thomas Linke 737 2009–2019

Overview of performers
Starring Role In the years
Norbert Braun Klaus Störtebeker, various 1993-2001, since 2007
Sascha Gluth Klaus Störtebeker 2002–2012
Bastian Semm Klaus Störtebeker 2013–2017
Alexander Koll[1] Klaus Störtebeker 2018–2019
Moritz Stephan[2] Klaus Störtebeker from 2021
Dietmar Lahaine Goedeke Michels, merchant Langendoorp 1993–2001, 2003–2013, 2018
Andreas Euler Goedeke Michels 2013–2017
Alexander Hanfland[1] Goedeke Michels from 2018
Wolfgang Lippert Abellin, the ballad singer, various 2000-2001, since 2003
Mike Hermann Rader Various since 2003
Thomas Linke Various seit 2009
Charles Lemming Wigbold, various 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, since 2013
Karin Hartmann Queen Margaret, Fronica, various 1993, since 2013
Hans-Jörg Fichtner Various 1993–2012
Burkhard Kurth Various 1993–2008
Fred Braeutigam various, now working behind the stage 1993–2005
Mircea Krishan Various 1993–1997, 1999–2006
Roland Seidler Various 1993–2003
Ben Hecker Various 2003–2013
Sabine Kotzur Various 1993–2001
Mario Ramos Various 2009–2015
Nils Düwell Various 1998–2004
Manfred Reddemann Various 1995–1996, 2005–2006, 2010
Klaus-Peter Thiele Various 1998–2001, 2003
Wolfgang Dehler Various 1996–1997, 1999–2001
Sibylle Pape Various 1997, 2003–2007, 2010
Robert Röske Various 1994, 1996–1997, 1999–2000
Renate Blume Various 1999–2002
Peter Theiss Boatman 2002–2005
Julia Horvath Orka tom Broke, Maraike 2004–2006, 2012
Ingrid van Bergen Various 2005–2008, 2010
Robert Glatzeder Brother Thomasius 2007–2010
Martina Guse Various 2004, 2008, 2010–2011
Frank Rebel Various 2004–2005, 2007
Jürgen Haase Various 2008–2009, 2011
Claudia Gaebel Mary, Elizabeth 2010–2011, 2013
Ronnie Paul Schlunz 1993–1995
Patricia Schäfer Ingeborg of Mecklenburg, Sophia of Pomerania-Wolgast 2008, 2014, 2016
Neithard Riedel Various 2012–2014
Ben Bremer Various 2007, 2015, 2016
Maria-Anne Müller Various 1997, 2000
Heidemarie Wenzel Various 1999–2000
Jörg Bundschuh Various 2001, 2006
Roland "Rollo" Maier Ballad singers 2003–2004
Heike Schober Maraike 1993–1994
Peter Cwielag Schlunz 1996–1997
Joachim Kretzer Guy de Rigault 2009–2010
Daniela Kiefer Valentina Visconti & Queen Margaret 2009, 2014
Susanne Szell Tine, Sophia by Pomerania Wolgast 2012, 2015
Thomas Kornack Short 2013–2014
Bianca Warnek Baroness Ewa, Tetta tom Brok 2016, 2017
Carin Abicht Various 1993
Cersten Jacob Nightwatchman Wehmeier 1994
Grit Stephan Orka tom Broke 1995
Ivette Richter Frauke tom Broke 1996
Hans Hartz Ballad singers 2002
Jenny Jürgens Lady Ann 2005
Gerit Kling Countess van Dooren 2006
Vanida Karun Miranda 2006
Jan Baake Hisko von Emden, water carrier, lead-wolter 2006
Christina Kraft Agnes 2007
Nadja Kruse Katarina 2008
Heiko Schendel Councillor & City Guard 2012
Hans Hohlbein Müller 2012
Sarah Hannemann Ann-Marie 2013
Anna Lena Class Elisabeth 2014
Marco Matthes Edwin Westhoff 2014
Hans H. Steinberg Hinrik Westhoff 2014
Anika Lehmann Nadeshda 2015
Marco Bahr Konrad von Jungingen 2016
Nicolas König Simon von Ütrecht 2017
Philipp Richter The Kleene 2017
Heinrich Rolfing Henry van Ostergard 2017
Volker Zack The Kleene since 2018
Sina-Valeska Jung Selma, Queen Margaret 2018
Thomas Ziesch Various since 2018
Nicola Ruf Dorothea von Achenbach 2018
Frank Richartz Aydan 2018
Greta Galisch de Palma Smilla 2019
Krista Birkner Queen of Denmark 2019

Performances since 1993
Playtime Cycle Duration Title Director Ideas Visitors
1. Ⅰ. 3 July - 29 August 1993 "How to become a pirate" Roland Oehme 58 78,060
2. 2 July - 28 August 1994 "Fight for Stockholm" 58 136.985
3. 1 July - 26 August 1995 "Storm on Gotland" 57 183.429
4. 22 June - 31 August 1996 "Pirates of the West Sea" 61 210.590
5. 21 June - 30 August 1997 "The Sword of the Executioner" 62 266.099
6. Ⅱ. 20 June - 29 August 1998 "Broken Chains" 61 244.754
7. 26 June - 4 September 1999 "The Vitaly Brothers" 61 292.413
8. 24 June - 2 September 2000 "The Crusaders" 61 296.974
9. 23 June - 1 September 2001 "Hamburg-Hanse-Henker" 61 320.007
10. Iii. 22 June – 31 August 2002 "The Beach Robbers" 61 281.644
11. 28 June – 6 September 2003 "The Wolf of the Seas" Holger Mahlich 61 335.208
12. 26 June – 4 September 2004 "In the Sign of the Cross" 61 340.423
13. 25 June - 10 September 2005 "Pirates before Britain" 67 366 200
14. 24 June – 9 September 2006 "In Executioner's Hand" 67 360.366
15. Iv. 23 June – 8 September 2007 "Betrayed and sold" 67 335.319
16. 21 June – 6 September 2008 "The Sea Wolf" 67 377.916
17. 20 June – 5 September 2009 Störtebekers Gold Part 1 "The Legacy" 67 394.766
18. 19 June – 4 September 2010 Störtebekers Gold Part 2 "The Curse of the Moor" 67 381.858
19. 18 June – 3 September 2011 Störtebekers Gold Part 3 "The Treasure of the Templars" 67 360.097
20. 23 June – 8 September 2012 "Störtebeker's Death" 67 362.963
21. V. 22 June – 7 September 2013 "Beginning of a Legend" Kai Maertens 67 343.190
22. 21 June – 6 September 2014 "God's Friend" Peter Dehler 67 355.125
23. 20 June – 5 September 2015 "Enemy of the World" Thomas Schendel 67 357,187
24. 18 June – 3 September 2016 "On Life and Death" 67 350,836
25. 24 June – 9 September 2017 "In the Shadow of Death" Marco Bahr 67 338.305
26. Vi. 23 June – 8 September 2018 "Call of Freedom" 67 310.405
27. 22 June – 7 September 2019 "Oath of the Righteous" 67 333.289
28. 19 June – 11 September 2021 "In the Face of the Wolf" 73 ?

Economic Situation
Fireworks

The number of visitors to the spectacle has increased significantly since 1993. In 2006, there was a small decrease in the number of visitors, which was also in line with the general trend in tourism figures on the island of Rügen and was due to the bad weather and the economic situation in Germany. In 2007, however, there was another increase and the 2008 season began with a significant increase in viewers.

Störtebeker Festspiele GmbH & Co. KG is a private family business that does not receive government subsidies and is co-financed by sponsors. The new media partner has been the NDR's.

Peter Hick has been theatre director of the Störtebeker Festspiele since 1993. His wife Ruth Hick and daughter Anna-Theresa Hick are managing directors of the company.

References
  1. "Die neuen Helden nehmen Kurs auf Ralswiek". 2018-02-15. Archived from the original on 2018-02-15. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  2. "Das ist der neue Klaus Störtebeker bei den Festspielen auf Rügen". OZ - Ostsee-Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-05.

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